Brian Flores’ Blockbuster Contract Details Emerge
Keeping Brian Flores wasn’t cheap.
The Vikings reportedly handed their defensive coordinator a deal worth more than $6 million per year — a figure that likely makes him the highest-paid assistant coach in football.
A couple of weeks ago, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero told KFAN, “My understanding is they made a huge offer, the type that Flores as a d-coordinator was not going to be able to refuse. He is still in the mix; he interviewed with the Steelers on Tuesday. He also interviewed for the Ravens’ head coaching job. But if one of those does not come through, then Flo is going to be back in Minnesota.”
Flores signed a contract extension with the Vikings while the head coaching searches were still ongoing. Then one door after another closed and it became clear that he wouldn’t find one of the 32 HC seats. On Sunday, the final coaches were hired and Flores’ fate was sealed.
On Friday, the Vikings made the stunning move to fire GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. In the reporting of that decision, ESPN’s Kevin Seifert revealed Flores’ salary.
He wrote, “As it would in many organizations, the level of Adofo-Mensah’s inexperience drew concern. Multiple sources said that defensive coordinator Brian Flores’ unusual decision to let his contract lapse, before signing a new deal that will pay him more than $6 million per season, was based in part on his unease with the direction of the front office. When asked last month if he wanted to remain with the Vikings, Flores noted that he loved working for the Wilfs and with O’Connell, and loved living in Minnesota, but did not mention Adofo-Mensah.”
Reporting from last year suggested that Raiders’ new offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly, who didn’t even last a full season, made a whopping $6 million, too, making him the highest-paid coordinator in the NFL. Vic Fangio, Philadelphia’s Flores, if you will, is making $4.5 million.
Long story short, until we hear otherwise, it’s fair to expect Flores to be the best-paid coordinator in the NFL, and it might be head-coaching money.
According to Dustin Baker of VikingsTerritory, Flores has been a major piece on the staff payroll ever since arriving in the Twin Cities three years ago. He noted, “Sources tell VikingsTerritory that Flores was among, if not the highest-paid, coordinators in the NFL when he signed his deal in 2023. So the Wilfs merely continued the tradition.”
The good news for fans is that coaching salaries don’t impact the salary cap. Unlike players’ salaries, where if one guy is getting paid more, there’s less for the other 52 players, coaching salaries are not regulated. And because it’s not our money and doesn’t impact anyone else, we can just appreciate the ownership group for paying the bill and move on with our lives.
The money is also well-spent. For comparison, $6 million is roughly the same as what the Vikings pay starters like Isaiah Rodgers or Josh Oliver.
That number is eye-opening for an assistant coach. Most coordinators operate in the low-seven-figure range, which makes Flores’ deal closer to low-end head-coaching money than a typical defensive coordinator salary. In other words, Minnesota didn’t just keep him — they treated him like a franchise pillar.
Flores has earned every penny of his new contract, as he turned a subpar unit into one of the best in the business that can single-handedly carry a struggling offense to wins. After a one-year acclimation period in 2023, his squad has been among the league’s best over the last two years and there’s no reason to believe that it would change in the upcoming campaign.
Flores had all the leverage — and the Vikings paid accordingly. That’s the price of keeping one of the league’s best defensive minds in the building.